SWEDISH WATER MANAGEMENT – A COMPARISON OF SOME MUNICIPAL MASTER PLANS AND THE REQUESTS OF THE WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE / Svensk vattenförvaltning – en jämförelse mellan ett antal översiktsplaner och kraven i EU:s vattendirektiv
A selection of 14 Swedish municipal master plans have been compared with the requirements of future river basin plans, as prescribed in the Water Framework Directive. The municipal master plans can be considered as the main planning documents to provide guidance for decision-making on water use in Sweden. Thus, they represent the long-term plans for water use. The comparison gives a hint on what effect the implementation of the Water Framework Directive will have on the Swedish water management system.
The result shows that most of the prescribed contents of the river basin plan are covered very briefly, or not covered at all, in the master plans. Economic analysis, environmental goals and monitoring are issues that are covered in a highly defective way, compared to what is prescribed for the future river basin plans. Only the identification of protected areas are covered to a high extent. The conclusion is that implementation of the Water Framework Directive will not only change the form of administration and management of water resources in Sweden. Many new aspects concerning the substance and content of water management must also be considered in the future.